Playing Telephone with Continuing Education

It’s critical for industry professionals to continue to learn and adapt.

By Todd Tannehill

When many of us were kids, we played a simple game called “Telephone.” One person whispered a sentence to the next, and the message traveled around the circle until it reached the final player.

By the time that last person repeated the sentence out loud, it was almost always different from the original. Sometimes it was shorter, sometimes longer, and sometimes it had transformed into something completely unrecognizable. The message changed not because anyone intended to distort it, but because information that passes from person to person naturally shifts, fades, or gets reinterpreted.

In the trades, we unintentionally play our own version of the Telephone game—not in minutes like the children’s game, but across generations. Skills, techniques, and “the way we’ve always done it” gets passed down from mentors to apprentices, from parents to children, and from seasoned drillers to newcomers.

But just like in the childhood game, the message can become distorted over time. Even more concerning is that sometimes the message doesn’t change at all. We cling to our great-grandfather’s drilling mix or the method he swore by, repeating it year after year without questioning whether it still represents best practice.

We are only as good as the information we choose to use—not the information we receive—but the information we actively put into practice.

Continuing Education vs. Inherited Knowledge

Most continuing education in the drilling industry today comes from vendors, manufacturers, and regulators at state and national conferences. These events are designed to introduce new products, updated technologies, and improved processes that make drilling safer, more efficient, and more environmentally responsible.

Drillers attend these shows every year to stay current, sharpen their skills, and learn what’s new. For those who show up consistently and take full advantage of these opportunities: well done. You are doing exactly what professionals in any field must do to stay relevant.

But what about the drillers we don’t see? The ones who never attend the shows, skip classes, and rarely visit distributor open houses? Where are they getting their advanced knowledge? If their only source of information is what has been handed down informally over the years, they may be using techniques that are decades out of date.

To understand how far back some of our inherited knowledge goes, I investigated the founding dates of several groundwater professional organizations. These dates likely align with the beginnings of formal drilling education and organized training:

• Michigan Ground Water Association (1928)
• Florida Ground Water Association (1935)
• Texas Groundwater Association (1947)
• California Groundwater Association (1948)
• National Ground Water Association (1948).

If we assume that structured water well drilling and product training classes began around the time these associations and other drilling organizations were formed, then our great-grandfathers had little or no access to formal education. Their knowledge came from experience, experimentation, and whatever
information they could gather from peers. That was the best available at the time, but it was far from comprehensive by today’s standards.

Information You Choose to Use

Let’s consider drilling fluids as an example. The first documented use of natural polymers, such as starch, in drilling fluids occurred in the 1930s. Synthetic polymers didn’t enter drilling muds until the 1960s. That means many of the techniques passed down through generations predate the materials and technologies we now consider standard.

So, what are the chances that a drilling method developed before modern polymers, before advanced equipment, and before updated safety standards would still be considered best practice today? This is the Telephone game at work. It is a message that changes unpredictably, or worse, never evolves at all.

We are only as good as the information we choose to use—not the information we receive—but the information we actively put into practice. And that information must come from qualified, trusted, and current sources.

I often read online discussions where new drillers ask for advice. The responses can be eye-opening. Some are helpful, but many are outdated, incomplete, or simply incorrect. And I see this with all topics—drilling fluids, pump selection, tank sizing, wire gauge, and other technical considerations.

Company representatives rarely jump into these conversations, but you can be sure many are shaking their heads at what they read.

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The truth is simple: the industry evolves, and so must we. Techniques improve. Products change. Regulations shift. Equipment advances. What worked decades ago may not work today or may no longer be safe, efficient, or environmentally responsible.

Choose your sources. Choose your experts. And above all, choose to continually update your industry knowledge. The future of our trade depends on professionals who are willing to learn, adapt, and move beyond the old game of Telephone.

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Todd Tannehill, based out of northeast Ohio, is the North American Director for the Drilling Products division of CETCO, a Minerals Technologies Company. Tannehill has been with CETCO since 2005 and is well known in the industry for providing strong technical support to contractors, distributors, and engineers. He is a past board member of the National Ground Water Association and can be reached at todd.tannehill@mineralstech.com.